USB Flash Drive will not Unmount Properly: Mint 10, 11

[krt]

When I right click the flash drive icon on my desktop, a menu appears and I can left click "safely remove" and supposedly remove the drive. But it does not work; the drive icon momentarily disappears, then re-appears and the contents window re-appears. Meanwhile the drive light stays illuminated. The second time I do this, it does unmount and stays gone. But why do I have to do it twice to get it to stay unmounted? Any fix for this?

This does not occur in Ubuntu.

Thank you,

krt

[Bob E]

No one seems to know why this happens. This same problem was posted a couple of months ago here on this forum: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=74532, but no one has offered a solution. I've just learned to live with it.

[krt]

Thank you for your reply. At least I know I am not alone with this. I did a search and never found anything that seemed applicable, so that is why I posted here.

I wonder if Clem is aware of this?

Since we are not alone, it apparently is a universal problem that should have been resolved with Mint 10; I was most disappointed to find it still in Mint 11.

Again, thanks for the response!

krt

[Inkit]

When you right click, you have to "Eject" the drive first. This will unmount it. The lights however still flash. After this when you click on "Safely remove drive" the light goes off. If you click on "Safely remove drive" first you will only be ejecting it. That's why it takes twice, or at least that's why I think it takes two times.

[Bob E]

No, I've never had to eject first then safely remove. The machine I'm on now with LM 10, clicking safely remove shuts down the flash drive connection completely. On my other machine with LM 10 it requires a double attempt.

Why does this happen with the exact same install, I don't know. The main difference between the two computers I have is different motherboards. I am suspicious that it might be a difference of USB chipset vendors.

Oh, and before I forget, I recently purchased an Asus Eee. I installed LM 10 and safely remove works perfectly on that as well.

This does not occur in Ubuntu.

I'm going to try this on my "problem" machine when I get a chance just to see what happens. I think I've got 10.10 around here...somewhere.

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EDIT: I just ran Ubuntu 10.10 live on my "problem" machine. It still required 2 attempts to remove every flash drive I tried. I'll still bet it's a chipset conflict.

[krt]

Well the chipset idea is an interesting concept, and could well explain why Clem has not been able to do anything about it. What bothers me tho, if that is the case, why does it happen in Mint and not in the corresponding version of Ubuntu?

krt

[krt]

I say again: "why does it happen in Mint and not in the corresponding version of Ubuntu?" and since it does, why cannot it be fixed? I can learn to live with it, but my wife (and anyone using a non illuminated drive) is going to have problems . . .

krt

[Bob E]

I just tested my own theory. On, what I've referred to as my "problem" computer, I connected an external USB hub while running Ubuntu 10.10 Live. When I clicked Safely Remove on the flash drive mounted in the hub, it disconnected on the first attempt as it should. Then put the same drive in the USB port connected directly to the mobo and it took two attempts. Then I tried it all over again with a different hub of different manufacturer and got the same results.

The problem on my computer is related to the mobo configuration. The chipsets of the hubs I used must be better made than the one provided on the mobo.

So why does Ubuntu work properly on your computer and Mint does not? I don't have an answer for you. Over the past number of years of building computers, I've found that you can have five different systems with five different mobos of similar configuration with the exact same OS, and all five will behave five different ways on various functions.

I don't know if there is a "fix" the Mint team can apply. The only thing I can suggest is to file a Bug Report addressing the problem.

[krt]

Bob and anyone else using hubs; I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know what brand and model of hubs you are using to stop this problem.

Thank you,

krt

[kaysilver]

it maybe a new security procedure so that you can not accidentally unmount a drive.just my opinion on the new process.could be wrong, might be a bug that has not been fixed? you need to expect these kinds of things in the latest and greatest edition of the best OS out there.long live mint!!!!!

[krt]

Bob E commented above that he used external USB hubs and they seemed to solve the problem of flash drives not unmounting properly.

Just for the record, I was all set to purchase one from a local store, where I could take it back if it did not resolve the problem, when I suddenly remembered I had a spare PCI USB 2 card that I had obtained for an earlier computer that lacked USB 2.

So I installed it in the computer with Mint 11, and that solved the problem just as if I had used a suitable external hub. In case anyone wants to go this route; this PCI card is made by PPA Int'l and is a 3 port (2 external and one internal for connecting to USB connectors on the front of the case, if desired). It is sold by Fry's Electronics for about $10 and is listed as a "3 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card". It is listed here on the PPA site . . . but it costs somewhat more from them: http://ppa-usa.com/computer-products/us ... -card.html . This is an old product; it can be obtained on line for about $8. There are less expensive ones available; I just happened to have this and it worked.

I am very grateful to Bob for getting back to me on this and pointing me in a direction I never would have thought of; i.e., an incompatible chip set in the USB system. This reminds me of a situation about 10 years ago when I was running Windows 98SE and a fellow introduced me to the Mozilla browser (predecessor to Firebird, later called Firefox) . . . the only problem was that it did not work well with the Nvidia card that had come in my commercial HP computer. I had to replace the video card to get good results with the Mozilla stuff. Linux has been a lot like that, but this USB business really threw me a curve and I was getting thoroughly perturbed by the time I posted here and Bob came back to me with a viable suggestion, because most people did not seem to be having any problems that I could discern.

krt

[ichido]

Is there some CODE that I can use to create my own USB-Drive dis-Mounter Link or App?
Using Kayta Linux Mint 11 LXDE.